Taora
Name:
“They call me Taora” is how she’s most likely to answer the question “what’s your name?” Whether that’s her real name or not remains unanswered.
Age:
20
Alias/Nickname/Titles:
She takes a certain degree of mirth in telling people she is Taora of No Name and Nowhere. Officially though, she will take her vows on the eve of the Winter Equinox to become a Priestess of the Order of Askarnia.
Quote/Personal Motto:
”The gods gave me a second chance… And I have no intention of squandering it.”
Appearance:
Taora has never been bothered with her appearance. She has been told that she is beautiful, but instead of feeling flattered she views her beauty as a nuisance. She would rather be unremarkable and go about unnoticed. The very concept of beauty irritates her in fact for both its vainness and subjectiveness.
The young woman stands at 5’7 with a lithe and womanly figure. She has long, soft, curly hair and mischievous, yet playful, almond-shaped eyes that are the colour of a sandy beach after a monsoon. Her facial features are very ascetically pleasing in their perfect symmetry and a person’s eyes are immediately drawn to her ruby red lips which are always painted battle blood red. The young woman had no need of other make-up for she was more than pleasing to the eye without it. Porcelain skin; perfectly arched eyebrows which sat above deep emerald eyes; plump and inviting lips; soft contours to a beautiful visage; a womanly figure with appealing curves; and silky, wavy hair that cascaded down to her shoulders and framed her face like an expensive frame surrounding a real masterpiece of art. Truly, Taora a beauty.
Personality:
Growing up, Taora was a rather timid girl. She did not possess the confidence of her older brother nor his out-going personality. She was much more of a simple wallflower, content to fade into the background and stay well away from the spotlight. As an adult, much of this is still true. Taora grew into a lovely young lady who possessed an exceedingly kind heart and a caring spirit. Her temper rarely runs away with itself and her demeanour iss always a calming influence on others. Having never had many friends as a child, Taora finds interacting with others socially very difficult and exceedingly uncomfortable. She is always unsure of what to say and how to act, forever fearing that she is coming across as odd or weird.
The young woman can be spectacularly determined when she feels passionate something. Having been accepted into the Temple of Askarnia, Taora had strived to become one of the revered priestesses as she believes that in achieving that goal she will finally have a place where she feels she truly belongs. This is her greatest wish and she will not let anything take it away from her. She is a devout follower of the Askarian Order and will forever be indebted to them in her heart and has therefore decided to dedicate her life to serving in The Temple.
Taora has a great love of all the fauna and flora on the island. From the smallest, most delicate little flower to the great behemoth creatures in the sea waters, she sees each one as special and something to be treasured. In them she sees a beauty she can appreciate, that is not pompous or arrogant but natural and breathtaking. Maybe it is because the animals can sense that she has such a gentle spirit that they do not fear her presence. The birds happily call to her from the tree tops; the deers do not leap away from her when she walks quietly among them; dolphins happily play around her when she swims - truly, she is loved by all the creatures she comes across.
Due mostly to her past, Taora is extremely distrustful of outsiders. The few occasions when sailors have found their way to the island’s shores have been rare, as they have normally been blown off course by a tropical storm, but each instance has struck terror into the young woman’s heart. Taora despises the greed and selfishness of mankind and greatly fears that people seeking to plunder the temple will one day her sacred home. The island saved Taora and brought peace into her life. She will not let any harm come to it.
History:
Taora - though this was not the name she was known by then - was born the second child of an fairly impoverished family back in Europe. Her father died of tuberculosis when Taora was nine years old, leaving her mother unable to earn enough money to feed herself and her daughter and keep them off the streets. In desperation, Taora’s mother became a prostitute. She was poorly treated and only lived a few more years before she succumbed to sheer exhaustion, malnutrition and vicious beatings.
Taora was fourteen by this time and was placed in the custody of her older brother who had left the family years earlier. She managed to track him down however. Her brother, Marcus was not in the least bit happy to see her or learn that he now had another mouth to feed, viewing her as an irritating burden. Still, he did take her in and for a year Taora watched the man drink himself into oblivion and become indebted to a sailor he played cards with in the local pub. The sailor, who was a pirate, offered Marcus an easy way to pay back all the money that he owed; give him Taora. The pirate explained that he had seen Marcus’ incredibly beautiful sister and wanted to give her as a gift to his son. Marcus took a swig of ale and shook hands with the man to seal the deal.
That night, Taora was taken from her home and found herself on a ship headed for the Caribbean. She was presented to the captain’s son and left alone with him. Fearing that he would force himself upon her, she begged him not to but to her surprise she didn’t have to worry about her virtue. The captain’s son preferred the company of the other male crew members and had no desire in taking pleasure from Taora. Taora promised to keep his secret and in return they set up a ruse to fool the entire ship. This kept her safe and untouched.
Shortly after arriving in Caribbean waters, the ship ran aground of a coral reef in a violent storm. Everyone aboard perished under the roaring waves, except for Taora. She woke up the next morning floating on a plank of wood from the ship’s decking just off the shore of the island that would then become her home. The priestesses found her and told her that the gods must have spared her for a reason. Unwilling to go against their gods, they allowed the girl to stay and train to become one of them.
Skills/Weapons:
Taora is incredibly clumsy and doesn’t go a day without tripping over her own feet. She has no hand-to-eye coordination whatsoever and doesn’t carry any sort of weapons like the other priestesses for fear of stabbing someone’s - or her own - eye out with a dagger in a freak accident that would no doubt involve a banana peel.
Taora is extremely gifted with herbs and potions. She instinctively knows which plants to mix and whether to grind them into a police or stir them into a potion to cure various ailments. Also, she has knowledge of deadlier uses of plants.
